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Kursk Relatives Granted Right to Sue State
Monday, March 4, 2002
(19:26)
By Viktoria Malyutina
Gazeta.RU

Nevertheless, the Kursk crew relatives will only be able to launch criminal suits after the official criminal investigation into the Kursk tragedy is completed, which is not likely to end very soon, but as Veronika Marchenko told Gazeta.Ru: “For us there is no urgency. No matter how long the investigation is, we will not forget about it”.

The Russian Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office has eventually acknowledged the right of the relatives of the dead crewmen of the Kursk to sue the state for compensation for moral damages. In judicial terms the families of the Kursk sailors are now officially recognised as “the aggrieved party”. As soon as the criminal investigation into the tragedy is completed, they will be able to file suits to the courts.

The decision of the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office (CPMO) was announced on Monday at a Moscow garrison military court, which was due to review a case filed by the mother of one of the Kursk sailors, Valentina Kozyreva.

The mother of Konstantin Kozyrev filed a complaint in court after the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office refused to recognize her being the aggrieved party. Without such recognition Mrs. Kozyreva’s claim for compensation for moral damage would not be accepted by any court.

But, without waiting for the court ruling on Mrs.Kozyreva’s complaint, the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office decided to acknowledge her as an aggrieved party and, and consequently that legal status will apply to all the close relatives of the perished submariners.
(More: Gazeta.RU News Source)
2002 © Gazeta.RU.

Dan